My brother is more than willing to take Mother with dementia in, but she refuses help. What can we do?

In most cases the elder should make the decision to move but this is obviously not one of those cases.

I'd contact the doctor first to see if he or she can expedite some type of action. If that isn't possible, call protective services. As you and your brother so wisely see, this can't be allowed to go on.

Best wishes to you. I hope that you'll keep in contact for support.
Carol

You call your county office of the aging and ask for help. They will send a Social Worker to help her. If she needs placement, they will seek "protective custody" in court. Let them do it.

In addition to calling protective services I would also recommend an involuntary commitment to a geriatric psychiatric unit to get her medically stable and to determine the level of care she needs. The mental health diagnosis with dementia is a lot to manage. She needs to be medically assessed and supported.

You may have to obtain Guardianship of her. Or someone will. Another family member or she will have a court appointed Guardian.
Senior Services may help, There is also a Senior Ombudsman that may step in. If you have none of these resources a call to the Health Department or Police Department might get some help or at least get the ball rolling for some help.
If she has a Doctor that she goes to that might be your first call they might be able to help a bit faster by getting a Social Worker involved sooner.

Speak to her physician. They can get help right away if they are aware of this. She is unsafe and unable to care for herself. The doctor can expedite things, her own doctor or an emergency doctor. Make certain they know she is unsafe

In my case, with my mom, who has dementia, parent became child and (only) child became parent. My mom was determined to move in with me, but for too many reasons to list, including a disabled husband I take care of, that would have been disasterous for all concerned. Although your brother is very willing to take her in, make sure he and his family know what they're getting into. You need help getting your mom out of her home and into a safe place, wherever that may be. When I taught preschool, the parents used to laugh that their children listened to me but not to them, so perhaps her doctor, who is not a stranger but a person of authority may be the one to speak with her. When my mother called 911 for the third time in a month simply because she had messed herself, I knew it was time to take action. I love and respect my mother and I knew what needed to be done for her. Good luck!

Call the health department and notify the apartment manager to have her evicted. This is an unhealthy situation! You mentioned she "showed" signs of schizophrenia. One does not get rid of this mental illness on its own, and requires medication to manage it. Have her put under a 72 hour hold in a psych hospital to have her evaluated and once she is, medications prescribed and she is stabilized, then your brother may take her home. Know that schizophrenia is a really difficult mental illness to deal with, and your brother would be taking on a great deal. With a dual diagnosis (mental illness and dementia) she could qualify for financial aid. Check out those resources as well. Best wishes!

Agree with all of the above and send a big hug!

While other comments here are helpful with respect to longer term options, I think I have a recommendation that will yield more immediate action.

Call 911 for an ambulance. Tell the dispatcher that you came into your mother's home and she cannot move, that she has to be taken to the emergency room. An ambulance will take her to an emergency room, they will do some tests and probably place her on an "observation" status and discharge her to a rehab facility. The rehab facility cannot discharge her home if she lives alone & cannot take care of herself, so she will most likely be admitted to the long term care part of the facility---which is what she needs, apparently. OR, she can agree to go live with your brother, which would have to be documented in the rehab/LTC notes. Also, if the apartment is that bad, it will be noted on the ambulance documents which is further support for her not to return to that place alone.

Furthermore, during the time she is in the hospital/rehab/LTC facility, get in touch with her landlord & let him/her know the situation & what's been going on. I am sure the landlord wouldn't be very happy with one of the apartments being over run with vermin. He might tell your mother that she cannot come back, forcing her to go live with your brother. Aside from the health issues, it is not safe for her to be living by herself, eliminating in a bucket surrounded by vermin.

As a daughter of an aging mother with Schizophrenia, I can't fault most of the answers here, with the exception that they assume that such a person has a doctor, and will consent to see a doctor and/or to stay on medication. My mother refuses to see the doctor in the first place, and when she has been forced to (during and after those 72-hour commitments) she does not stay on meds or keep future appointments, even though I'm the one bringing her to them. Therefore, she has no doctor to consult with. For those of you who have never dealt with this additional factor (beyond aging and dementia) you may not realize that what you suggest does not have the impact that logic tells you it will. To get the 72-hour hold, at least in TX, you have to start with a 911 call or take evidence to a court. The first-responders have to deem your mother a danger to herself or others. Most rational and caring people would say the conditions shared in this example are dangerous. I have not found first-responders or courts to work "rationally" - they have to work based on legal definitions of danger. What they say is that clearly the woman needs help to live, but that's not a reason for commitment. And so the cycle continues. I agree with calling the resources available locally on aging and even Adult Protective Services. Join NAMI. But getting a Schizophrenic woman evicted is cruel. She will then not have a home and may continue to refuse to live with anyone. Now you've got one more elderly mentally-ill person on the streets. Heartless. At least this woman has a roof over her head right now. She can be located and food can be brought to here. If she's homeless, it becomes much harder to find her. (I know this from years of experience.) Please, if you have no first-hand experience with parents who have long-term mental illness in addition to aging and dementia, understand that those of us who do have years of experience of being unable to do much legally, and that logical answers are not always practical answers.